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Chapter 1281: Strange Tonks
🕑 Added 2024-11-03 02:39:29 +0000 UTCThe train whistle sounded loudly as more and more mist shrouded the entire platform.
Then, the gleaming scarlet steam engine started moving slowly, picked up speed, round the corner, and disappeared from view.
Only the three of them remained on the platform as the cold evening wind hit them head-on. Evan tightened his coat and began to miss the start-of-term feast in the Great Hall.
He’d only had one and a half sandwiches for lunch, and that half was from Hermione.
She’d claimed it was too dry, but clearly, she’d just been worried he hadn’t had enough to eat and shared her portion with him...
They were heading to school now, not embarking on an adventure or fleeing from danger, so why should they be so miserable?
To be honest, Evan was indeed a bit hungry, especially with that last sip of dragon’s blood he’d taken, which had made him feel queasy all afternoon. But the thought of a cat’s ghost hiding within him made him feel even more unsettled.
It was funny; while Harry worried about Malfoy and Voldemort, here he was, worrying about a cat...
Thinking of this, Evan felt his stomach even emptier.
"They should have arrived at school by now. We'd better not delay any longer," he said. "Why wait here? We won't encounter anything if we just walk back. There won't be a large number of Death Eaters guarding between the school and Hogsmeade."
“All right, we can walk up to the school. Grab your Invisibility Cloak, Harry," said Tonks. "Stay alert!"
"Come on, you’re starting to sound like Mad-Eye."
“On the path of Aurors, he’ll always be my teacher. I’ve learned a lot from him."
Including being suspicious and seeing danger everywhere, which Tonks had never been like before.
They left Hogsmeade and set off toward the lane that led to the school.
"So, you’re currently stationed in Hogsmeade?"
"Yes, it’s a long-term assignment. Scrimgeour’s worried they’ll attack Hogwarts."
Evan looked at Tonks in surprise. As expected of a veteran Auror, Scrimgeour was really sharp.
Far better than Fudge, and based on the current intelligence, he’d managed to deduce Voldemort’s intentions and make the appropriate arrangements.
Unfortunately, this was just a decoy Voldemort had thrown out.
“Is it just you who’s stationed up here, or —?" Harry asked.
“No, Proudfoot, Savage, and Dawlish are here too," said Tonks, "and there's another group that rotates with us."
“Dawlish, that Auror Dumbledore attacked last term?"
“Sounds like him. He’s an excellent Auror, though sadly, not on our side,” Tonks replied. “I mean, he’s loyal solely to the Ministry and takes orders from the Minister of Magic. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?"
“Not at all!”
Serving only the authority in power, without firmly siding with any faction — most people in the Ministry were like that.
They might not necessarily support Voldemort, but if Voldemort came to power, they wouldn’t oppose him, either.
"But I think wizards should have their own convictions, know what they’re doing and why they’re fighting," Tonks continued. "That's why I became an Auror and joined the Order of the Phoenix. Someone must stand up to stop the Dark Lord instead of just hiding behind..."
This topic was a bit heavy. Was this still Tonks?
They trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly made carriage tracks.
Harry looked sideways at Tonks from the side under his Invisibility Cloak, marveling at how different she had been from when they had met last summer, when she had been so inquisitive and a little brash, always laughing and telling jokes, so likable.
Now she seemed older and much more serious and purposeful.
All this talk of staying vigilant, wizards having their own convictions, stepping up to do something...
Wow, this kind of awareness and thinking was so dazzling.
If he hadn't learned about it from Evan, Harry would have thought that the Tonks in front of him was someone else impersonating her, using Polyjuice Potion.
Harry looked at Evan and thought he should say something to Tonks.
But Evan didn't react, and Harry didn't know how to bring up the topic.
Should he support her and Lupin being together, or suggest she give up? Either way, it was not good.
Harry really didn't know what to say, and the same was probably true for Evan. Although he was still trying hard to find topics to liven up the atmosphere and maintain this awkward conversation, he increasingly felt that there was no way he could continue to communicate with Tonks, who was so thoughtful and serious.
If she decided to go off and take down Voldemort herself, Evan wouldn’t even be surprised at this point.
Sure enough, love could completely change a person.
And so they tramped on through the cold night in silence, Tonks’s long cloak whispering on the ground behind them.
Half an hour later, when they finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar, Evan and Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
They were cold, they were hungry, and they were quite keen to leave this new, gloomy Tonks behind.
But there was another, even more unpleasant, figure at the gate, who stood with a bobbing lantern.
The glowing yellow light illuminated Snape's hooked nose and long, black, greasy hair.
He’d already been here, waiting, not coming out to meet them.
Expecting Snape to come greet Evan and Harry was probably too much to hope for.
Seeing Snape, Harry subconsciously took a step back. He’d have preferred even a giant to greet them over Snape.
“Well, well, well,” sneered Snape, taking out his wand and tapping the padlock once, so that the chains snaked backward and the gates creaked open. "The famous Mason and Potter, Nice of you to turn up. It wouldn’t be a perfect start to the school year without you two stirring up a bit of trouble, making a memorable entrance, would it? Potter, tut-tut, you have evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would detract from your appearance..."
“I couldn’t change, I didn’t have my —” Harry began, but Snape cut across him.
“There is no need to wait, Nymphadora, Mason and Potter are quite — ah — safe in my hands."
“I meant Hagrid to get the message,” said Tonks, frowning.
“Hagrid was late for the start-of-term feast, just like these two here, so I took it instead. And incidentally,” said Snape, standing back to allow Evan and Harry pass him. "I was interested to see your new Patronus."
He shut the gates in Tonks's face with a loud clang and tapped the chains with his wand again, so that they slithered, clinking, back into place.
As soon as he entered the school, Evan felt a powerful magical force pressing down on him, which he had never felt before.
The security within the school had been multiplied many times over this summer.
"If you ask my opinion, I think you were better off with the old one,” said Snape, the malice in his voice unmistakable. “The new one looks weak."
As Snape swung the lantern about, a look of shock and anger could be seen on Tonks’s face. Then she was covered in darkness once more.
